A cargo ship passes under the Americas Bridge in Panama City on July 18, 2013. Panama on Wednesday officially requested UN inspectors scrutinize the cargo on the North Korean ship seized near Panama on Tuesday, which UN diplomats said could constitute a breach of the strict arms sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programme. North Korea said Wednesday that Cuban arms seized from the Pyongyang-flagged ship near the Panama Canal were part of a legitimate deal. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

View of the Panama Canal's Miraflores Locks in Panama City on July 18, 2013. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

View of the North Korean vessel Chong Chong Gang at Manzanillo harbour in Colon, 90 km from Panama City on July 16, 2013. Panama called Tuesday for UN investigators to inspect a shipment of suspected weapons parts aboard a North Korean-flagged ship as it tried to enter the Panama Canal last week. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Bags labeled "Cuban Raw Sugar" are seen inside a North Korean flagged ship "Chong Chon Gang" docked at the Manzanillo Container Terminal in Colon City July 16, 2013. Panama detained the North Korean-flagged ship from Cuba as it headed to the Panama Canal and said it was hiding weapons in brown sugar containers, sparking a standoff in which the ship's captain attempted to commit suicide. Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli said the undeclared weapons were detected inside the containers when Panamanian authorities stopped the ship, suspecting it was carrying drugs. Photo: Reuters

North Korean sailors whose dilapidated ship was halted near the Panama Canal and found to be carrying military equipment could face up to six years in jail, a prosecutor has said. Text: AFP Photo: Reuters

The 35-man crew of the Chong Chon Gang — which was stopped as it approached the major waterway last Friday — are in custody at a former US military base in the port of Manzanillo in northern Panama. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The Soviet-era weaponry, discovered among tonnes of sugar during an anti-drugs search, belongs to Cuba and was being taken to North Korea for repair, the communist allies have said. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A worker inspects a container of the North Korean Chong Chon Gang vessel, where an alleged ageing Soviet-built radar control system for surface-to-air missiles was found, at the Manzanillo Port in Colon, 90km from Panama City, on July 17, 2013. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A Panamanian soldier stands guard as workers open a container of the North Korean Chong Chon Gang vessel. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A Panamanian soldier stands guard near a container of the North Korean Chong Chon Gang vessel, where an alleged ageing Soviet-built radar control system for surface-to-air missiles was found. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A close up shows a missile-shaped object as forensic workers (background) work inside a container holding arms seized from the North Korean flagged ship "Chong Chon Gang" at the Manzanillo Container Terminal in Colon City July 17, 2013. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Panama on Wednesday for seizing a North Korean ship carrying arms from Cuba, adding that the U.N. sanctions committee would take up the issue promptly. Cuba said the weapons were being sent back to North Korea for repair and included two anti-aircraft missile batteries, nine disassembled rockets, two MiG-21 fighter jets, and 15 MiG-21 engines, all Soviet-era military weaponry built in the middle of the last century. Photo: Reuters

A view of the cargo inside a container of the North Korean Chong Chon Gang vessel. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Part of A long, green Part of A long, green missile-shaped object is seen inside the North Korean flagged ship "Chong Chon Gang." Photo: Reuters

A view of the cargo inside a container of the North Korean Chong Chon Gang vessel. Phto: AFP/Getty Images

A Panamanian Attorney General worker inspects a container of the North Korean Chong Chon Gang vessel. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

North Korea has demanded the vessel's return, saying the shipment formed part of a legitimate deal with Cuba. "The cargo is illegal because it was not declared. Anything that is not logged, even if it is obsolete, is contraband," said Panamanian Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino. Photo: Reuters

Portraits of former leader Kim Jong-il (R) and former president Kim Il-sung are seen in one of the rooms inside a North Korean flagged ship "Chong Chon Gang" docked at the Manzanillo Container Terminal in Colon City July 16, 2013. Photo: Reuters

Photo of Soviet-made SAM-2 anti-aircraft missile launchers taken on December 2, 2006 during a military parade at Revolution Square in Havana. The weapons are the same type as those found aboard the North Korean-flagged Chong Chon Gang in Panama on July 16, 2013.' Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A deactivated Soviet-era SS-4 medium range nuclear capable ballistic missile (R) along with other Soviet made Cold War relics are pictured on display at La Cabana fortress in Havana in this November 26, 2009 file photo. Photo: Retuters

A taxi drives beside a MiG-21 fighter plane at a site displaying other Soviet-made Cold War relics at La Cabana fortress in Havana in this October 13, 2012 file photo. Photo: Reuters

North Korean Weapons Ship

A cargo ship passes under the Americas Bridge in Panama City on July 18, 2013. Panama on Wednesday officially requested UN inspectors scrutinize the cargo on the North Korean ship seized near Panama on Tuesday, which UN diplomats said could constitute a breach of the strict arms sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programme. North Korea said Wednesday that Cuban arms seized from the Pyongyang-flagged ship near the Panama Canal were part of a legitimate deal. Photo: AFP/Getty Images